The Pet Goat

Today, September 11, 2006 marks the five year anniversary of one the most tragic days in American history. Whichever ones of you out there that once claimed that “nothing has changed” since 9/11, all I can say is “Guess again”. Between higher prices at the pump and tighter security measures being taken at our borders and our airports we’ve all been affected in one way or another.

But I’m not here to take issue with that. No, I want clear up a grave mistake so that historians in future generations will look back and come to know the truth and not some perversion thereof.

Contrary to popular belief and due in large part to the distortion of the facts by Michael Moore in his documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 and the rest of the liberal media, President Bush was NOT reading a book called “My Pet Goat” to a group of schoolchildren when America came under attack on September 11, 2001.

Let the record and history show that real name of the book is “The Pet Goat”

Now that we have that straightened out, let’s try and set the record straight on some other matters.

In Bush’s own words, he claims to have already known that a first plane had smashed into the World Trade Centers before he even entered the classroom because he “saw it on television”. Don’t believe me? Here’s an excerpt from a speech he made In Orlando, Florida in December of the same year.

"Actually I was in a classroom talking about a reading program that works. And I was sitting outside the classroom waiting to go in, and I saw an airplane hit the tower -- the TV was obviously on, and I use to fly myself, and I said, "There's one terrible pilot." And I said, "It must have been a horrible accident." But I was whisked off there - I didn't have much time to think about it."

Not quite…

Ok look, I know Orlando, Florida is home to Walt Disney World and it’s a place where people go to escape the grind of their daily lives and to maybe indulge in a fantasy or two and in all fairness to Mr. Bush I realize these were confusing times but c’mon. As we all now know, President Bush entered the classroom soon after. He wasn’t “whisked” anywhere.

Incredibly, as President Bush is reading to the students or being read to by them (I’m not sure which) his Chief of Staff by the name of Andrew Card is advised that second plane had crashed into the towers and comes over and whispers into the Presidents ear that America is under attack.

At first, a strange look comes over his (Bush’s) face. I can’t tell whether it’s a look of distraction or a “deer caught in the headlights” kinda look. Either way, even more incredibly, rather than rush the hell out of there, President Bush continues reading or being read to by the students for another seven or so minutes. He later claims that he didn’t want to cause them any unnecessary panic.

In retrospect and fairness, I think the President was trying to read between the lines and get to the deeper meaning that lies beneath the words of “The Pet Goat”. Maybe, within those words he saw a vision for the future that will unite us all in a cause that goes farther than any of use can even imagine. The imagery that the story evokes is truly telling and should be a lesson to us all.

Even the mastermind behind the events of 9/11, Osama bin laden heaped praise upon the goat. In a video taped message to the world just before the 2004 Presidential elections he had this to say

"We had agreed with the (Sept. 11) overall commander Mohamed Atta, may God rest his soul, to carry out all operations in 20 minutes -- before Bush and his administration could take notice. It never occurred to us that the commander in chief of the American forces would leave 50,000 citizens in the two towers to face those horrors alone at a time when they most needed him because he thought listening to a child discussing her goat and its ramming was more important than the planes and their ramming of the skyscrapers. This gave us three times the time needed to carry out the operations, thanks be to God."

I don’t care if you’re from the right side of the aisle and are looking to blame the events on Bill Clinton or you’re from the left and you want to lay the mess at Bush’s feet. God knows there’s enough blame to go around and most of it should be shared. So far I think, “The Pet Goat” has gotten off pretty easy and has a lot of explaining to do.